So what does a high-end smartphone, a low-end feature-smartphone, and a prosthetics arm have in common?  Nokia, the Finnish phone maker who used to be popular in the mobile industry.  In the past weeks, we hardly hear about Nokia.  Mobile news is always about Apple, Android, and even RIM’s downfall.  The last I remember, Nokia sacked 3,500 employees in their factory in Romania, and a recent poll showed that almost 50% who took the survey said that they would probably buy a Nokia Windows Phone.

So what has Nokia been up to? What’s keeping them busy these past few weeks?

New Devices From High-end to Low-end Mobile Devices

Nokia has just announced their first two Windows Phone smartphone in London.  The new Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 are now available in the following countries: France, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Netherlands and will be available for €420.  Nokia fans in the US would have to wait until 2012 to get their hands on the new products.

The Lumia 710 features a ClearBlack display, an anti-glare screen, 3.7″ touchscreen, a 5 MP camera with auto-focus and an LED flash.  It runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango , and is available in a variety of colors.

The Lumia 800 features a Curved glass, 3.7″ touchscreen, a smooth, one-piece body Carl Zeiss optics, an 8 MP camera with HD video and 16 GB mass memory (no slot for micro-SD cards). It also runs Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and is available in Cyan, Black and Magenta.  Of the two, the Lumia 710 has lower specs.

Nokia also launched the Asha line, a set of lower-end devices that run Series 40.  It’s almost like a cross between a feature phone and a smartphone.  The Asha line includes units named 200, 201, 300 and 303.  The 200 features Easy Swap – quick switching from multiple SIM cards without having to turn off the device–up to 32GB of media storage.  It offers 52 hours of playback and will cost about €60.  The 201 features loud speakers, 32GB of storage as well as 52 hours of playback, supports push e-mail, Whatsapp messaging app, approximately €60.

The 300 features touch and type input methods, 1GHz processor, a 3G, Nokia Browser that compresses web pages by 90%, a 5 megapixel camera, a music player with FM radio, Bluetooth connectivity and can handle memory cards up to 32GB. There’s Nokia Store access, pre-installed with Angry Birds, and will probably cost about €85.

The 303 features touch and type input method, 1Ghz engine, 3G and WLAN, a Nokia Browser and also comes with Angry Birds, support for Facebook Chat, Whatsapp messaging and the latest release of Nokia Maps for Series 40 and will probably cost about €115.  To view the video ads for these devices click here.

Nokia is for Everyone

Trevor Prideaux, a man born without a left arm, is having a hard time keeping up with technology.  Most devices are now touch-based and for a man with only one hand, this can be quite difficult. So Prideaux asked help from prosthetics experts as well as Nokia to help him with his dilemma.  Now, he doesn’t have to put down his device to use it because it is now docked on his prosthetic arm.

Prideaux shared, “I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the world – and it is brilliant.  I can now take calls and make texts just by using my one hand, while the phone sits inside my arm.  The phone slots smoothly and securely within my limb and is easily removable, when required. I think this would help a lot of people with prosthetic arms – especially those who were not born with the disability.  People who have had motorbike crashes and soldiers who have lost limbs – they could all benefit from this.”